Zawaya

Good evening. Any normal person cannot but be happy for the detainees released after a bitter suffering. However, we should consider today developing mechanisms that will put an end, once and for all, to political imprisonment, because it’s a form of injustice, tyranny and anti-liberty. Democracy is not consistent at all with political imprisonment, and any country that allows it is democratically deficient.

The article you published this week is truly interesting, and I want to comment on it to discuss with you the contents of the rule of law which remains a set of static and empty structures as long as it’s not linked to the rule of law. However, Sir, it should be emphasized that despite the difficulties it’s facing, Morocco could achieve a different development path from what’s found in the Maghreb. Therefore, the country was envied and, its path was hindered but still succeeded to be crowned by an institutional reform based on a participatory dynamic. Therefore, I would like to reiterate that Morocco, and all Maghreb countries, have to stick to democracy as an irreversible solution, because it’s the best.

History is repeating itself. Abuses have continued since 1999 to this day, especially after the bombings of Casablanca in 2003, whose perpetrators are still unknown. ??? The release of political prisoners is an undeniable progress, but there is still some confusion: how come that all the released detainees had only a few weeks remaining in their sentences? And why were unfairly imprisoned detainees excluded? If Morocco is really serious in tackling this issue, it should release them, and reveal the real culprits of these events and punish them. For how long will Moroccans be underestimated, treated like fools, and told that those detainees were behind the bombings of 2003? The Moroccan people are aware of everything.

Today’s civil society and political parties in Morocco are required to maintain the gains of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission. The safest way to do that is probably to establish mechanisms and regulations that prevent past events from happening again, but that’s easier said than done. However, amidst the current institutional modernization in Morocco, this goal could be accomplished in an institutional way, by putting security institutions under the control of the parliament, which will monitor their financial decisions and how they manage security. Why not establish a public security policy approved by the Parliament, set priorities and allocate a specific financial budget for it? Consequently, accountability will be based on this practice, ensuring some sort of control that guarantees protecting human rights and not deviating in the exercise of power, on the one hand; and facilitating the work of institutions because objectives will be clear for security officials, on the other hand. The State will be the first to benefit from this procedure, because it will couple responsibility with accountability. Society will also benefit from that because it will have more time for other issues. Tanjaoui Allal.

Dear Professor, you tackled the judiciary and the need to strengthen it to achieve democracy, and your article fits in the context of the ongoing judiciary-centered debate today in many Maghreb countries. It seems to me that this debate puts the judiciary on one side, and all other powers on the other side, which might make us go off-topic. When it comes to reform, it should include all areas. The judiciary did not come down from heaven with holy water, nor did not come out of the underground; it’s rather the outcome of society, and no reform can be achieved without society at its core.